Louder Than Words

Louder than Words is the third novel in the “Heroes Quartet” series penned by award-winning Canadian author Kathy Kacer. The author of more than twenty books for young people, Kacer has won much acclaim for her work, including the Jewish Book Award. Louder than Words is gripping not only because of its chilling plot, but also because it has vivid, rounded characters, including the narrator, Dina Sternik. Her “up-close-and-personal” tone makes readers feel that they are experiencing events as they unfold. And what terrible events they are!

When the novel opens in February 1941, Dina is living with her mother and her sisters, six-year-old Gennadiy (Nadia) and the baby, Galya, in Proskurov in the Soviet Ukraine, a territory which has changed hands many times in history. As Dina explains, it was at one time part of Poland, then part of Russia, and now seems about to change hands again. Dina is alarmed at reports that the armies of Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany, are moving into western Ukraine. Knowing the long history of Jewish persecution in her land and aware of Hitler’s oppression of the Jews in Germany, Dina and her family feel they have nowhere to run to, especially as Hitler’s enemy, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, is also hostile to Jews.

Dina and her family are grieving her father’s recent death. Their mother has to go back to teaching high school to support the family, but her decision to bring a housekeeper into the home upsets Dina. Nina Pukas, the housekeeper, is a stout woman of indeterminate age who wears long skirts, babushkas on her head and a silver cross on a chain around her neck. Although she is kind and friendly, Dina is not ready to warm to her. When Nina asks Dina to teach her more about Jewish customs, Dina takes her to the library and finds a book on the subject and then discovers that Nina can’t read – she had grown up on a farm where no one had educated her. Dina offers to teach her, and the two bond.

Nina is a rock of support as the situation for the Jewish citizens of Proskurov worsens. The series of ominous events gradually escalates, starting with a Christian boy bullying a Jewish one at Dina’s school and the teacher in charge failing to step in. Then Jews are forbidden to enter the public park, are refused access to the library, are required to wear yellow stars, and eventually are afraid to go outside their homes. The Sterniks’ house is set on fire. In this deteriorating situation, Nina refuses to leave, even when Mrs. Sternik can no longer pay her and though it’s likely that Nina will be forbidden to work for a Jewish family. Her presence is vital in that she can go out and buy food.

Spoiler alert: In the introductory quote, readers see Mrs. Sternik, imprisoned, begging Nina to look after her children. It is Nina’s idea to tell the authorities that the family’s papers were burned in the fire and to claim the girls as her children, registering them as Eldina, Gennadiy and Galya Pukas, Catholics. This step saves their lives. Shortly after that action, the children’s mother is arrested.

In an end note, the author explains that it was after the Nazi invasion in July 1941 that “laws and rules to restrict the freedom of the Jewish people were introduced.” She adds: “For the dramatic purpose of this story, and to show how the lives of Ukrainian Jews were affected by the Nazi occupation I have altered the time line of events so that the restrictive laws came into effect first, leading up to the invasion.”

This narrative choice is troubling. Adherence to major historical facts is essential in writing historical novels, especially in novels to educate young people about the Nazi period. Kacer’s entire body of work is aimed to ensure that the horrors of the Nazi era are never forgotten. All the more reason to stick strictly to the sequence of events so that nobody can say, “The order of events is wrong, so the whole story must have no basis in fact.” Abiding by the actual time frame would probably not have diminished the drama and power of the novel. Also troubling is the cover illustration. Its jolly, cartoonish quality may attract young readers but seems out of keeping with the grim, realistic subject matter.

Louder Than Words is riveting not only for its content, but also because of its fast pace and well-developed characters. Even the secondary characters are well-drawn, including Dina’s school chum, Esther, who meets a tragic fate; Mr. Petrenko, the teacher who fails to aid the bullied boy but helps Dina; and Dina’s uncle, married to a Christian woman who is a stark contrast to Nina. Near the end, when the uncle and his wife explain they were afraid to help Dina’s family, Dina points out that Nina never stopped helping them, no matter how dangerous it was. One of the most endearing characters is the baby, Galya, whose innocent playfulness is a source of joy to her family.

Perhaps Galya never existed in real life. Near the end, in the section “Who was Nina Pukas?”, the author explains that Ludviga (Nina) came to Proskurov in 1937 and got a job as a domestic working for Frima Sternik, a high school teacher who lived “with her two daughters, Eldina and Gennadiy.” Mrs. Sternik was killed by the Nazis, but the two girls survived under Nina’s care and, afterwards, refused to leave her. Nina died in 1984 at age eighty-two, and in 1994 was named one of the “Righteous Among Nations”, the highest honour bestowed by Israel’s Yad Vashem upon non-Jewish persons who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Louder than Words shows young readers that someone from the humblest of circumstances can be loving, loyal and courageous, and behave heroically in dangerous times.